For those of us without a library card, the name Airborne Toxic Event begs the question, "How did they come up with that name?" The answer is fitting and very personal. While working on a novel in 2006, frontman Mikel Jollett switched gears to write songs as a way of dealing with the sudden onset of illness, and the upheaval in his life.

The resulting songs inspired the formation of the band, aptly named after a chemical spill dubbed an "airborne toxic event" in the novel "White Noise" by Don DeLillo. Like Jollett, the protagonist in the story is forced to confront chaos and the limits of mortality.

Whatever they want to call themselves, the results--with lyrics clearly borne of deep emotion, delivered with equal parts skill and abandon--are far from toxic.

Airborne Toxic Event is currently touring the US and will be in Los Angeles tonight (9/18). They will be hitting up states in the South through the end of this month, heading North from there in October. The final show on the itinerary is Oct. 4 in Hartford, CT.

Yours truly attended their show at the Grand Ballroom in San Francisco last night, here are the photos I took of their performance.